Jazz Artist Astrid Kuljanic Comes to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
By: A.A. Cristi Sep. 14, 2017
Croatian vocalist and composer, Astrid Kuljanic, will bring her complex musical sensibility to the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on October 24th with an eclectic program of jazz-infused traditional folk music from a wide variety of traditions, including Klezmer and Balkan standards. She will perform tracks from her up-coming album, Riva, recorded in the Spring of 2017 with her New Group, Transatlantic Exploration Company, made up of accordionist and jazz pianist Ben Rosenblum, bassist Mat Muntz, and percussionist Rogerio Boccato. The evening will also include special guests: the groups Hrvatska Ruza, Rosa and Asaran Earth Trio, as well as saxophonist Elijah Shiffer, and violinist Ben Sutin. Hailing from Croatia, Seattle, New York City and Brazil, Transatlantic Exploration Company unites four musical worlds, bound together by a shared dedication to exploring new musical forms. Riva reflects Kuljanic's immersion in the musical traditions of India and Brazil, Klezmer, avant-garde improvisation and electronica.
Kuljanic earned her Master of Music in Jazz Performance at Manhattan School of Music, where she worked with Theo Bleckman, Gretchen Parlato and Kate McGarry. Prior to recording Riva, she released albums on Aquarius Records with her quintet 'Mildreds'. She performs regularly throughout Europe and the US, including such venues and festivals as Gramercy Theatre, the Waldorf Astoria, Golden Festival (New York), the Mendocino Music Festival (California), Teatro O'Nariz (Portugal), Lent Festival (Maribor, Slovenia), Lisinki Hall and Museum of Contemporary Art (Zagreb, Croatia), JZ Jazz Club (Hangzhou, China). She also founded the Crescendo Music Festival in Croatia, which has showcased international music for ten years.
The members of Transatlantic Exploration Company are accomplished musicians in their own right. Accordionist Ben Rosenblum is a respected jazz pianist who has won numerous awards for his performance, composition and arrangement, and was recently a guest artist at Carnegie Hall. Brazilian percussionist Rogerio Boccato has played with jazz luminaries Maria Schneider, John Patitucci, Fred Hersch and Danilo Perez, among others, and is featured on Schneider's Grammy-winning "The Thompson Fields." Bassist Mat Muntz performs regularly throughout New York City, and his most recent recording is "Into the Blue" with Samir Chatterjee.
Riva is released on OneTrickDog* Records, an independent music label that specializes in jazz and blues. Recent releases include: SaRon Crenshaw's Drivin' and Ben Rosenblum's Instead with Curtis Lundy and Billy Hart.
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